


Bride of Frankenstein (the doctor)

by thenafics



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Conventions, M/M, Scars, Supernatural Elements, horror movies, the author's Jason Todd headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:27:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27343510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenafics/pseuds/thenafics
Summary: Tim has a deep and abiding love for horror movies. The same part of him that loves jumping off rooftops just for the adrenaline loves a good scare. And he nerds out a little (a lot) about the cinematography and the special effects. So once a year as a treat to himself, he’ll get on a plane, fly all the way to California, and go to a horror movie convention. He and a couple other Gotham-native attendees even managed to get the convention to ban cosplays of Scarecrow, Joker, and Two Face because of them being actual villains who have actually caused the death of hundreds of people.This year is especially exciting because Tim has managed to convince Jason to go with him.(Happy belated Halloween!)
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 7
Kudos: 114





	Bride of Frankenstein (the doctor)

**Author's Note:**

> this is entirely self indulgent because I miss conventions and I will hold on to Halloween until december~

Tim has a deep and abiding love for horror movies. The same part of him that loves jumping off rooftops just for the adrenaline loves a good scare. And he nerds out a little (a lot) about the cinematography and the special effects. So once a year as a treat to himself, he’ll get on a plane, fly all the way to California, and go to a horror movie convention. He and a couple other Gotham-native attendees even managed to get the convention to ban cosplays of Scarecrow, Joker, and Two Face because of them being actual villains who have actually caused the death of hundreds of people. 

This year is especially exciting because Tim has managed to convince Jason to go with him. They’ve been dating for 9 or so months now, ever since Jason finally got up the courage to ask Tim on an actual date. Tim thinks Jason will fit right in at the convention. There’s even a panel on horror novels that Jason made him mark down on the schedule that he seems genuinely excited for. Plus, Tim got him a shirt that Jason will almost definitely refuse to wear. It says “I have a genuine phobia of clowns.” and below that there’s a clown circled and crossed out. There’s always a few people dressed as killer clowns, and while Jason tends not to get violent unless the clown in question is the Joker, it’s better to be safe than sorry. 

It had been much easier than Tim expected to convince Jason to come with. Really all it had taken was a promise that they would also go to some bookstore in LA and Jason was more than willing to suffer through the airport and the claustrophobic environment of a plane. A rental car later, and they're on their way out of the tangle of traffic surrounding LAX, and on their way to the hopefully less congested streets of Pasadena. So far, Jason seems to be enjoying his time in California if the way he’s basking in the sun coming through the car window is any indication. He wears the leather jacket all the time mainly because his body temperature is so low. It always sparks a little bit of affection in Tim’s chest to see Jason curled up like a cat in warm places.

As they pull into the hotel parking garage, Jason blinks awake from his doze, stretching as much as he can in the admittedly cramped space of the sports car Tim rented. He smiles crookedly up at Tim and has the decency to wait until Tim’s engaged the parking brakes to swoop in for a kiss. His mouth tastes like stale coffee and the cinnamon nicotine gum he’s been chewing in excess to help with the anxiety of going through an airport. It’s a nice moment. They’re both groggy and a little stressed from travel at the moment, but this coming week is all for them to relax. Tim has called in some of the vacation time he’s accumulated and Jason managed to get Roy and Artemis to cover their patrols. 

“Let’s go check in.” Jason whispers against Tim’s lips.

It is a genuine struggle to pull himself away from Jason, but Tim manages to get himself out of the car to go unlock the trunk. He doesn’t manage to stop himself from ogling the way Jason’s thighs stretch out his jeans as he leans over to pull out their luggage. From the way his boyfriend looks at him with a quirked eyebrow when he turns to give Tim his backpack, Jason has noticed. It’s fine. Tim has never claimed to have shame or decency. 

Check-in is pretty quick which Tim is thankful for. It means that they can head up to their room and nap before dinner. It ends up being a very nice 45 minute nap that helps them both sleep off some of the travel funk. When they get down to the lobby, Jason is delighted by the people watching. Since it’s the night before the convention, people are milling around the lobby area. There’s a wonderful mix of people who look entirely normal and fully done-up goths, punks, and the occasional pastel fashion style. It’s a group of people that Jason and Tim both look like they belong in. 

After dinner, Jason pulls Tim over to the hotel bar so they can people watch some more before they turn in for the night. Tim takes a second to thank the fact that nobody in California gives half a shit about Bruce Wayne and his children, because this is honestly the first time in a long time he’s been able to go to any sort of bar with Jason without someone recognizing Bruce Wayne’s son and getting shitty about it. If Jason heard him say that though, he knows he’d get that smile full of faux pity and a coo of “poor little rich boy.” 

Jason has joined a tweedy looking older guy and the younger punk girl sitting nearest to them on the low sofas into a discussion about the implications of  _ Frankenstein _ as a work of gothic horror or something like that. He seems to be enjoying himself and Tim is more than happy to sit cuddled up against his side. It’s nice to just be a normal couple, out for a nice weekend. The conversation switches over to movie adaptations of the film and Tim starts to chime in. Jay can have all the opinions he wants on the validity of the movie as a whole, but Tim will stand by  _ Van Helsing _ ’s portrayal of Frankenstein until his last breath. Plus, he knows Jason will back him up, the intelligent portrayal of the creature gets points for book accuracy even if the weird Dracula thing makes the movie irredeemable for him. 

They turn in early to give themselves a chance of coping with the time difference. Between shared body heat and all the blankets in the closet, Tim even manages to get Jason’s body temperature up to a comfortable level before they fall asleep. Being wrapped up in each other, with no worries for the next day except for getting up at a reasonable hour is  _ incredible _ .

Waking up is a little less incredible, but not as unbearable as it can be after long hours of patrol. The bed is unfamiliar but soft and Jason is playing the part of the world's biggest little spoon with his face buried in Tim’s chest. It’s unusual for Tim to wake up before Jason so he savors the moment. He pets through the thick curls of Jason’s hair, gently brushing the black and white of his bangs back from his forehead. In his sleep, Jason leans into the affection, tilting his head to get more pets and exposing his face in the process. Tim presses gentle kisses over the scar connecting the white patch in his hair down to the one in his eyebrow. The snow color follows the thin rope of the scar down to his eyelashes as well, leaving them shock white where they brush against his skin. 

Jason blinks awake, looking up at Tim with a soft smile dawning on his face. Tim could easily spend the rest of his life trying to capture the uniqueness of Jason’s beauty on film. Especially his eyes, a luminous green so pale they almost fade into the whites of his eyes and frosted over pupils which stay small as pinpricks in all but the darkest of conditions. They are absolutely stunning and also one of the things that makes so many people be unnerved to be the focus of Jason’s attention. Tim basks in it. In the way Jason is taking this moment to memorize Tim’s appearance as well, his lips moving silently as he runs through adjectives until he can find the one he wants. 

The moment is broken when Jason’s alarm goes off, playing some obnoxious pop song. Tim can’t help but laugh as Jason swears and flails to unearth his phone from beneath the pillow. He kisses the scarred corner of Jason’s mouth and rolls out of bed and over to the coffee maker. 

“I see how it is, Drake. You’re leaving me for your highly caffeinated mistress!” Jason play faints dramatically over the pillows.

“Of course,” Tim says with a wry smile. “She is my one true love.”

“I am betrayed. Broken! How could you!” Tim can’t help but smile even more at Jason’s antics as he makes his way over with a cup of coffee for himself and some tea for Jason.

“Drama queen.” He says, pecking a kiss to Jason’s forehead as he hands over the tea.

“You love it.”

“Fool that I am.”

“Fool that you are.”

They take their time getting ready. Thanks to Jason’s insistence, they’re out the door plenty early that picking up their pre-registered badges takes barely any time at all. Plus Jason made sure they had enough time to get Tim some more coffee before the public had to be exposed to him. To Tim’s surprise, Jason had even worn the stupid t-shirt, albeit only with the promise that he would get punchy with any clown who tried to spook him. Tim knows he’ll try not to unless he feels legitimately threatened. 

Tim takes forever going through some of the exhibits and Jason just listens to his excited chattering with a fond smile. He does seem to actually be interested in the process displays and concept sketches, as well as the few storyboards on display. Jason even pulls his reading glasses out to get a better look at some of the scripts, which brings a smile to Tim’s face.

Nothing goes wrong until they get to the dealers hall. Jason has taken his glasses off to clean them and a very well meaning booth employee does the unthinkable.

“Dude! Your contacts are so cool! I’ve never seen dead-eye contacts like that before!” She means all this as a genuine compliment, but it catches Jason wrong footed and he stands stock-still for a moment.

“They’re not contacts…”Jason says. Tim swoops in to rescue both Jason and the shop girl from the awkwardness that’s about to ensue. 

“Jay’s got cataracts.” It’s not the most elegant solution to explaining why Jason has literal “dead-eyes” but right now it’s the only cover Tim can think of. He knew this would come up eventually, but it’s still unexpected in this setting. Luckily, Jason picks up pretty quickly.

“Yeah, haha. They don’t work great, but they look pretty cool, right?” Jason jokes, pointing at his own eyes. 

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, I didn’t…”

Jason waves her off. As awkward as it is for Jason, he doesn’t want this girl feeling bad for the rest of the day. He squeezes Tim’s hand tight.

“Don’t worry about it, happens all the time. Now, what can you tell me about this brand of adhesive?”

It does not in fact happen all the time. People in Gotham are entirely unlikely to say something to a stranger about anything at all. As they head away from the booth, newly purchased mask adhesive in hand, Jason waits until they’re out of sight to sag a little into Tim. Tim tightens his arm where it is around Jason’s waist and takes the lead. 

He finds a secluded place to sit Jason down and just be for a second. Tim stays standing and lets Jason press his face into his sternum. They stay there for a while before Jason finally lifts his face up. He gives Tim a weak smile and leans into the hand Tim cups his cheek with.

“I could use some coffee. How about you?” Tim knows Jason is using coffee to distract him, but he lets it slide. He could use another cup about now and this is a topic for later tonight, when it’s just the two of them.

Jason is, despite the  _ everything else _ about him, almost painfully shy when it comes to exposing his own insecurities. He’s a big crybaby who hides behind bluster and off-color jokes, but he lets Tim see the marshmallow center and they’ll be able to talk about this when no one else is watching. 

He’s a little subdued for a bit, but Jason bounces back admirably when they get to watch a demonstration of some special effects makeup. The fake gash the makeup artist applies to the neck of her model is remarkably realistic.

“Honestly kind of shocked she managed to get it to look so indented into the skin.”

“She’s very talented.”

“D’you think if we got some of the stuff she used we could fool Bruce?”

“Jason. We’re not doing that.” Tim’s tone is faux serious, but he can’t hide where the smile touches his eyes. 

Overall, the rest of the day is pretty good. They head back to the hotel room with several different brands of adhesive to try on Tim’s domino mask and a couple of books for Jason. Dinner flies by at the restaurant that came highly recommended by Yelp and before they know it, it’s 10 pm and the city has rolled up the sidewalks.

“I still can’t believe stuff closes this early here.”

“Such a Gotham boy.”

“Oh shush, Tim. I get up earlier than you. I just appreciate the sanctity of a 3 am trip to a diner that isn’t a Denny’s.”

“Is this going to be another conversation where you get snobby about Denny’s?”

“It’s not a real diner Tim! I won’t stand for it.”

“No one claimed it was a diner. Plus, you’re sitting down.” Tim presses a kiss to Jason’s forehead and Jason turns into it, like a sunflower to the sun. He waits until Tim pulls back to press his own kiss to Tim’s lips. 

“Go brush your fucking teeth.” He says against Tim’s lips.

“Fine. Party pooper.”

Tim brushes his teeth and even actually puts his dirty clothes in the bag Jason has for them in their suitcase. Jason only has to glare at him a little to prompt it as well. Tim doesn’t dare mess with his neatly folded suitcase organization system, so he’ll just wait until the morning to get out his clothes.

With the light off, and Jason tucked into Tim’s side, everything feels calm. There’s no stress of patrol tonight or work tomorrow and they can both just breathe deeply and bask in each other’s presence. The only thing looming over them is the events of earlier today. Tim lets the words sit behind his teeth for a while, just in case Jason is the one who wants to bring it up.

“Jay.” Tim calls out softly. He gets a hum of response. “Can we talk about earlier?”

“Don’t really know what there is to talk about.”

“It seemed to upset you a lot.”

“Just don’t like being reminded is all.” Jason’s voice is thick with sleep and something else.

“Of what?”

“All my weird shit. The hair, the eyes, the scars. How I wasn’t supposed to get above 5 foot 6 because of malnourishment, but now I’m a fuckin’ giant. I look like fuckin’ Frankenstein.”

For a second, Tim’s at a loss for words. All of these are things he loves about Jason. He adores Jason’s skunk stripe. And Jason’s eyes are so incredibly unique and beautiful. The scars he understands more, Tim has many of his own that cause insecurity, but on Jason, he loves them. To be honest, Tim had never considered the height to be something Jason wouldn’t like about himself. He uses it to his advantage shamelessly, always hiding things on top shelves 

“I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. I wish you could see that they add to you, not take away.”

“Show me then.”

“And you’re not going to complain about how dirty hotel sheets are?”

“They bleach them every time anyway. And we’ll be gone early enough for turndown.”

Tim barely waits for him to finish talking to kiss him. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna see more of what I do or send in a prompt, head over to my [ tumblr<3](https://thenafics.tumblr.com/)  
> and talk to me!  
> As always, thank you so much for reading!


End file.
